Robinson trap (MV) run in garden. After a slow start this year, the range of moths is increasing.
The following species were found in the trap in the morning (aside from the Brimstone Moths, Opisthograptis luteolata, which, as is usual with this species, flew around the trap in the night but did not enter):
Yponomeutidae: 1 Swammerdamia caesiella
Plutellidae: 5 Plutella xylostella (photo from day before - another individual from trap in Flickr photostream)
Tortricidae: 1 Notocelia cynosbatella
Pyralidae: 2 Aphomia sociella
Geometridae: 1 Xanthorrhoe fluctuata, 1 Hydriomena ruberata, 2 Eupithecia exiguata, 1 Eupithecia vulgata, 1 Gymnoscelis rufifasciata, 2 Opisthograptis luteolata, 1 Lomographa temerata
Sphingidae: 1 Smerinthus ocellata
Notodontidae: 1 Notodonta dromedarius
Noctuidae: 1 Agrotis exclamationis, 1 Charanyca trigrammica
The Brimstone Moth was photographed with a macro ring LED light as it sat on the outside of the trap at night.
Spent some time yesterday with CombineZP to stack series of images of live moths to create compound images with greater depth of focus than any of the individual images.
I used a tripod with a Canon SX40 HS mounted on a slider rail and fitted with a Raynox DCR-250 snap-on super macro lens to take series of photos of different moths across the full range of focal distances that intersected the moth. In each case I used the camera's internal flash diffused with a collapsible flash diffuser and a 10-second shutter delay.
I've created three composite pictures. In each case it was much more effective to include only the smallest possible range of images that encompassed the whole moth. With Cydia strobilella, I had to exclude some of the photographs that showed additional sections of the left antenna since the position of the antenna changed between images.
For comparison, here is the best single-shot image I managed of each moth, followed by the best composite I could create.
Swammerdamia caesiella
Single-shot:
Composite (3 images):
Notodonta dromedarius
Single-shot:
Composite (7 images - black background not planned):
Cydia strobilella
Single-shot:
Composite (7 images):
